Winter check-in

A quick inspection of the Sandy hive on Dec 30, 2013 showed a happy colony that had barely even touched the sugar I left for them. Since bees prefer their own honey to human processed sugar, this means they have plenty of their own honey to eat which was always my intent.

A few seconds after lifting the mountain camp feeder above, they started to surge out of the frames, clearly fearing an attack. I quickly snapped this picture, and carefully replaced the feeder above, strapping the whole hive down as I do year round.

While we’ve had a reasonably mild winter so far, the ladies are looking healthy and happy; hopefully ready for a split late this spring. And now, as beekeepers have done in colder climates for hundreds of years, I patiently wait for spring when I’ll check on them again.